Circle

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

Since 1901, Annapolis residents and downtown workers have been dropping off letters and buying stamps at the brick Georgian Revival-style post office on Church Circle. But not for much longer. A vote by the state's Board of Public Works on Wednesday seals the eventual fate of the post office. The state is buying the office for $3.2 million, with eventual plans to use the building for government offices. "The state saw an opportunity to retain the historic value of the building, particularly because it's in the footprint of other state-owned facilities.

I agree with the letter about yielding to traffic in a circle coming from the left and blending in as soon as possible ("Yield to left at roundabout and to right at four-way stop," Catonsville Times, Jan. 4). I have found that many people needlessly come to a complete stop when they reach the circle. They are probably upset by people to their right that do not also stop and let them go. We need to be educated so that everyone knows to slow down when they reach the circle but not stop if no one is in the circle or it is possible to blend in. Another reason for driver education is the speed bumps recently added on Westchester and Rockwell avenues.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Standing outside of his barn at Churchill Downs, leaning against a temporary fence that seems more invitation that blockade, D. Wayne Lukas is as much a Kentucky Derby fixture as spilled bourbon and bad bets. The Derby takes thousands of horses in their 3-year-old years and whittles them down to a field of 20 through a series of races run across the country, and no trainer has been there at the end more often than Lukas. His two starters entered in Saturday's race, 30-1 Oxbow and 20-1 Will Take Charge, would be his 46th and 47th.

My fellow motorists, what have they done to our favorite traffic nightmare? I speak here, of course, of the infamous Towson roundabout, that hellish ribbon of asphalt and brick where civility once went to die. Have you driven this thing lately? If not, you're in for a big surprise. Gone, for the most part, are the sounds of brakes squealing, horns blaring, metal crunching, curses shouted into the air. Gone is the serial flashing of the upraised middle finger that often occurred when one car cut off another.

You can hear their laughter from the back door of Columbia's First Presbyterian Church.Seated at long tables in a basement room, surrounded by hanging quilts they've brought for a session of show and tell, the 40 or so women cut, baste, applique and embroider.The Faithful Circle Quilters celebrate their lives with the work of their hands."I thank her every day that she got me into this," said Monica Thomas, 45, of her aunt, Gloria Bruns, who died in December.It was Bruns, as a Faithful Circle member, who made the blue and yellow quilt that Thomas is showing.

He's one person every horseman wants to see after a race.Because if Jerry Frutkoff is in one's future, it means the winner's circle likely will be the meeting place.For half a century, Frutkoff has been photographing the victors at Maryland tracks and, come Saturday, he will be shooting his 50th Preakness."The only one I missed was 1973 because I was in New York trying out for a job up there," said Frutkoff. It just happened to be the year of Secretariat's Triple Crown.He quickly returned to Maryland to continue earning the respect of millionaire owners and hot walkers alike.

More than 900 visitors attended the Faithful Circle Quilters' biennial quilt show April 30 to May 2 at the First Presbyterian Church, at Route 108 and U.S. 29 in Columbia.Two hundred and forty-four quilts were shown, including two raffle quilts of the same underwater scene: multicolored fish swimming through appliqued branches of seaweed. The raffle quilts -- one 92 inches square, the other 46 inches -- were made cooperatively by members of the 27-year-old Howard County group.Terri Cup, a friend of Faithful Circle member Juliann Nankervis, won the smaller quilt.

Two years ago, talk of fixing up a deteriorating stretch of inner West Street was seen by many as just that. Talk.Those skeptics should doubt no more. Construction begins today on a key element of the revitalization: a $7.9 million traffic circle at the intersection of West Street and Taylor Avenue in Annapolis.While various street closures will be an irritant for motorists until the year 2000, when the circle is expected to be completed, the result should be a picturesque gateway into the historic city.

When all was said and done, not even magic could save the Circle Theater in Annapolis. So the owner is trying something more down to earth: stores and offices.Sike Sharigan is having the State Circle Building renovated and hopes to have a four-story building with stores on the ground floor and offices above ready for business by this time next year. He said it's possible he'll put apartments instead of offices on the fourth floor, depending on the demand for offices.Sharigan, who also owns Fran O'Brien's restaurant on Main Street in Annapolis, said he has not done a market survey, but believes he'll have no trouble finding tenants for an office building right across from the State House.

Dong Hwan Lee, a securities salesman who began his career in Baltimore and rose to become a Wall Street sales director, died of cancer April 11 at his Manhattan home. The former Lutherville resident was 37. Born in Seoul, South Korea, he was the son of Myungock Ro, a nurse, and Kwang Sung Lee, a restaurateur and shop owner. Raised in Cockeysville, he attended Padonia Elementary and Cockeysville Middle schools and was a 1994 Dulaney High School graduate. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Towson University and a master's degree in business administration at the Johns Hopkins University.

Laurel Park Bullet Catcher follows more traditional path, reaches winners' circle Bullet Catcher, who made local and national headlines Jan. 11 after escaping from the Laurel Park backside and taking a 1.6-mile journey on nearby roads, won his first race in nearly two years with an impressive performance in Friday's eighth race, a $40,000 allowance. Jerry Robb Jeremy Rose Abel Castellano Abel Castellano The 4-year-old gelding broke alertly then tracked the pace to the 16th marker before he surged ahead to win by 21/2 lengths in 1 minute, 4.71 seconds for the 51/2-furlong distance.

The inspiration for this column came from a local newspaper article I read about a "girl" with whom I went to high school for two years at St. Cecilia's Academy in Washington, D.C.   This woman, whom I haven't seen since then, has always kept a low profile over the years, even though she is married to a very prominent man.  I have never seen photos of her in magazines, so it was good to see a photo of her along with the article I read....

While Angelenos are mourning the loss of their favorite basketball team's patriarch, basketball fans in the other corner of the country are scratching their heads over a comment by rapper. Welcome to your online trends for Tuesday, February 19. Jerry Buss, the man credited by many with bringing glamour back to basketball as the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, died yesterday at the age of 80. Meanwhile, two of the world's greatest soccer -- ahem, football -- teams are scheduled to play today, bringing them one step closer to European dominance.

Police are investigating a triple shooting that happened in northwest Baltimore early Saturday morning, and another incident that took place Friday evening. At 3:35 a.m. officers responded to a shooting in the 3400 block of Reisterstown Road and found three men suffering gun shot wounds, police said. One of them, who has not yet been identified, died from his injuries, according to police. The two other men are being treated at area hospitals. A 26-year-old man was also fatally shot at Fayette and Bentalou Streets, police said, but no other details were immediately available.

The older brother has always blended easily with people. He built his career over a quarter century, meticulous step by meticulous step. He'll probably smile at you, even if he doesn't like your question. The younger brother's talent burned hotter and to this day, so does his demeanor, which sometimes scorches those who dare get in his way. He reached his current position in great, precocious leaps. If he thinks you're an idiot, he'll treat you like one. Yet somehow - in a story too good for anyone to have made it up - John and Jim Harbaugh will face off as peers next Sunday in the Super Bowl, the grandest stage in the game to which they've devoted their lives.

In its second year awarding grants, the Women's Giving Circle of Harford County gave 11 nonprofit organizations nearly $36,000 in 2012 to help women and girls in the county. Four thousand dollars went to the local Arc chapter to help single parents; $2,500 went to the Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation for a program to help children of people with cancer. Then there was $1,696 to the Highlands School, a private school in Bel Air for children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities in kindergarten through the eighth grade.

It's a tale of last rides and inspired beginnings, of loss and the will to fight on, of hopes rising, falling and rising again. Like many a dramatic yarn, it has spun back to the place where it started. And now, it's time for the Ravens to tell us how the story ends. Running back Ray Rice calls them a team of destiny, and it's easy to see why he might think so given everything the Ravens have been through over the past 12 months - the injuries to key players, the untimely losses of one player's younger brother, the wild swings in on-field momentum, the coming retirement of their public face and private motivator, Ray Lewis.